pets

Hey there! This site is no longer being updated. I'm leaving some of the content up just because. If you'd like to follow what I'm currently up to, please head over to my new site. Thanks! – Meg.

This May will be our first anniversary of chicken ownership. It definitely has been a huge learning experience, I can’t wait to get more land and do things differently. After seeing some posts on twitter from soon-to-be-chicken-owners, I decided I should share what we’ve learned the hard way. Chicken ownership is not as easy as owning a pet bird.

Have the Coop AND Run done before bringing the chicks home.

We had the coop done long before bringing our girls home, but we didn’t have the run done. The girls were quickly outgrowing their brooder box and we had little time to get the materials and build a run. It caused several rough moments between me and Jeff as we panicked to get the run together and the girls outside. Having the run done early would have also helped immensely when we cleaned out the brooder every other day. The girls would get some free (and secure) time outside while we cleaned the brooder without worry.

Also, we would have had more time to perfect the design so that it was the best solution for us. Instead, we ended up with a design that makes it hard just to refill their food once a week. It’s even harder to get in there and catch them if they wont come to us.

I also suggest starting with chicks — it’s really tempting to want to start with pullets because 1) they lay sooner 2) you know their gender… but, you don’t get to start them off and tame them. It means a lot to have chickens that aren’t afraid to approach you and will let you hold them to doctor them up when needed.

Be ready with lots of research.

I thought I had researched absolutely everything, I even read the entire Raising Chickens For Dummies book, but I still had lots to learn! The most important thing to know the ins and out of is their diet… how much scratch/grit do they need, what kind of feed for what stage of growth, what treats and how much can they have, medicated chick start or plain, etc. I only skimmed through the chapter on feed, that was a mistake. Fortunately we didn’t have any issues with feeding our girls, but I did waste a lot of time searching for answers on my iPhone in TSC when it came time to buy a new stage of feed.

Also research the delivery of their food and water. You want a system that is easy to refill, keep clean, and has plenty of access for them. Limited access to their food and water can cause problems within the pecking order, and even cannibalism. The perfect system is one that is easy on you, and them… but they are the priority.

Be ready with lots of research… about your chosen breeds.

This is especially important if you are a suburban or urban backyard chicken owner. Some breeds are louder than others, some are difficult to sex as chicks, some are aggressive, some do well in certain climates… the list goes on. Make a list of what you need in a breed — size of eggs, behavior, prefered climate, etc. Then, pick your breed. BYC has a good breed index, but remember that this is information gathered by an online community composed mostly of amatures and may not be entirely accurate (more on that later.)

As you know, we have two Black Australorpes and a Rhode Island Red. The BA’s are usually quiet, but RIR’s are typically loud. This isn’t exactly the case for us — Selma is definitely sweet and quiet, but Patty and Baby (RIR) are very loud and will make sure you hear their rants. RIR’s are also labeled as aggressive — but Baby is the SWEETEST chicken and our friends with RIR’s say the same about theirs. Originally we had a buff orpington — Marge — who turned out to be a Mark. We didn’t originally plan to get a BO, but my mother in law wanted more color to our flock when we were picking out chicks. I had researched BA’s and several other breeds except BO’s. When we got home, I learned orpingtons are hard to sex until they’ve reached 14 to 16 weeks… and sure enough, Marge was a cockerel.

Be prepared to be a Chicken Doctor.

You can’t protect your flock from everything, including themselves. You most likely will not be able to find a vet to treat the bird during an emergency. Most suburban and urban vets wont even consider seeing a chicken, and most agricultural or avian vets will just tell you to cull the bird. Chickens are still considered dispensable animals, not pets. I know that this seems unjust since these vets will attend to $10 budgies from the pet store, but that’s just how it is.

Have an emergency kit with an antiseptic spray for fowl, exam gloves, chick saver, pine tar, corn starch, and whatever other basics you can get your hands on. The worst feeling is when you have a sick or injured bird and need to run to the supply store for the things to save them. Having the most basics on hand will save you worry and possibly save the bird’s life. Remember that human treatments don’t usually translate to animals, so you will need specialized items.

Also, know your chicken poop, as silly as it sounds! Chicken poop can be an indicator of health or problems, and every chicken owner should regularly watch their flock’s poop. Familiarize yourself with the infamous chicken poop guide, the only time this guide wasn’t useful was when the girls’ poops turned an evergreen… then I remembered they had a red cabbage head earlier. Opps!

Online resources & communities are to be taken with a grain of salt.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s lots to be learned in great communities like Back Yard Chickens… and bloggers like me, but you have to remember — these are not experts, they’re people who were in the same spot you were not too long ago. These sites can be either very encouraging or super discouraging, their information can be incredibly accurate or incredibly inaccurate. This is where you need to continue to research on your own, instead of just going off of the answers you might receive in a forum thread. Weigh the information you find and pick what seems to be correct.

For example, when the girls were reaching the pullet stage, I posted their photos at BYC asking for advice on their genders. Of course, as it turns out… Marge was a cockerel, but the people in the thread were trying to tell me ALL of them were. Why? Because of the growth of their combs. One member posted a photo of his silkie at the same age trying to make his point. No two chickens are alike — especially between different breeds!!!!!!! I can’t stress that enough! Patty definitely has twice the amount of comb that Selma does, but they are both definitely hens, and the same breed! Plus, different breeds have different types of combs — and each comb type has different growth patterns. The thread upset me a lot, because before I had done research looking up photos of buff orpingtons (Marge’s breed) trying to tell for myself the feather shapes and comb growth. These people were rude and condescending. Finally, someone spoke up… someone with decades of experience… that comb growth is not an accurate tell for gender — feathers are slightly more accurate. Not one person in the thread had looked at the feathers or gave me photos of their hens of the same breed and their feathers — which is what I had originally asked for them to do. The person who came to the rescue in my thread also sent me a private message telling me to not be discouraged by the treatment I was receiving for asking a question, a question that is encouraged and has its own area in the forum. The community at BYC is generally amazing and welcoming, but there are certain areas of the forum where know-it-alls rule the roost.

So in conclusion — remember that people in these communities are not usually experts, they are people with enough time on their hands to be browsing these forums giving whatever information is stored in their head from their own limited experiences. I have had other, more positive experiences using the online communities as resources, but I still have to take a step back and ask myself if their advice is really accurate.

Be prepared to battle boredom.

We all get cases of cabin fever and get sick of the same everyday routine. Chickens experience this as well, but they cannot cope with it as well as humans can. If you cannot free range your chickens, have some way to break up their everyday activities by either having a way to move them to a new part of the yard… or with treats that create a new activity for them. Treats like my homemade scratch blocks, or a head of cabbage. Treats that encourage foraging and pecking are a good distraction from applying those behaviors to each other, like we experienced. Chickens will attack each other, and like sharks — blood makes them crazy. Boredom is enough to drive them to this behavior, even if they normally are best of friends.

Believe me, there will be plenty of unexpected surprises.

There just are some things you can’t prepare for, no matter how hard you try. They will surprise you with odd behaviors and sounds, both of which can be indicators of a problem. YouTube is definitely a great resource for diagnosing the behavior. If you suspect a hen is egg bound, you will be able to find videos of egg bound hens and their behavior during that emergency. If your hens are suddenly making a new noise — like egg songs if they’re pullets — you will be able to find videos of this behavior to confirm. I never found another instance of a hen yipping like a dog and purring like a cat, like Selma did when she started laying… but maybe I’ll catch her doing it again. She sometimes gives me little yips after she’s laid a difficult egg.

Lastly, make sure you have the TIME to own chickens.

Unlike most pets where you just have to keep their food and water filled, cages clean… chickens demand a bit more attention. I work from home, but I still find it difficult to get everything done that needs to be done. Chickens poop A LOT… if you can’t scoop the waste out of the coop each day, gather the eggs, check for anything abnormal, and feed them their scratch & treats — then you probably don’t have enough time. Sure there’s different coop & flock management methods, but that’s my rule of thumb for determining if a person has enough time.

This is just the start!

If you have questions, feel free to ask them in the comments. Remember, I am not an expert — these are just the things I learned since we took this journey! If there’s anything you want me to expand on in another post, let me know! Believe me, this is a long post but I had PLENTY more to say.

In the right sidebar I have links to some of the blogs I follow, and several of the homesteading blogs have LOTS of great information on chickens.

Hey there! This site is no longer being updated. I'm leaving some of the content up just because. If you'd like to follow what I'm currently up to, please head over to my new site. Thanks! – Meg.

I grew up with lots of pets, we made them a part of our family – even celebrating the dogs’ birthdays with cakes made in my Easy Bake Oven! So it shouldn’t be any surprise that after our latest chicken drama, I came up with some treat ideas for our flock to cut down on boredom.

The flock block I got the girls was a big hit – after they got over being afraid of it of course. They had it pecked to crumbles in a matter of days, then in a few more days the crumbles were gone. They were so obsessed with the block – they weren’t eating it as they pecked. They were determined to reduce it to nothing once they realized their pecking wore away at the big block. I loved the block because it meant I didn’t need to remember to give them enough scratch each day.

We’re reaching the bottom of our first 50lb sack of scratch, so I decided to start weighing our options. Buy another bag, or keep getting flock blocks? Cost wise, we should buy another bag – it’s cheaper and lasted us about eight months. The flock block lasted only a week, but it definitely gave the girls entertainment. Thriftiness won out, and I decided just to get another bag of scratch… but then a light turned on while browsing Pinterest. I came across bird seed ornaments! I could make those with scratch – even better, I could make my own scratch block!

After some research and posting over at BYC… I came up with a game plan and made my purchases. I used this silicone mini loaf pan to make my mini flock blocks, and unflavored gelatin — mix with the scratch, and you’re good to go! Easy peasy!

If you have a larger flock – you could use larger pans. I would stay away from being tempted to hang the scratch cakes like bird seed ornaments – chickens are notorious for getting themselves into trouble, and I’ve heard many a story about chickens eating twine or getting caught up in it. You could use a large metal chain instead of twine or rope, like with parrot toys, that would be mostly chicken proof!

My plan is to give the girls two mini-loaf blocks every few days, however often it takes for them to eat up all the scratch while still not being too much for their diet. When I gave the girls the first two blocks this morning, they went nuts! The blocks were pecked to bits by the afternoon! I guess I do need to invest in some larger pans, maybe even this silicone bunt pan, or give them a block in the morning and a block in the afternoon.

These blocks will be a great project to do with the kids — make a large batch with multiple pans and stock up! Just be careful to only give the chickens their regular allotment, and to not let the blocks get wet — they’ll come apart.

While bringing 1 1/2 cups of water to boil, mix the gelatin in a large bowl with the cold water. Let sit one minute before mixing in the boiling water. Stir for a few minutes until completely dissolved.

Stir in scratch a cup at a time, then let the mixture sit for a few minutes. Continue to stir every few minutes until the gelatin has mixed and soaked in evenly. You will know this has happened when you begin to stir the mixture from the bottom of the bowl after it has been sitting, the scratch will be uniformly coated. If the scratch from the bottom of the bowl still has more gelatin adhered to it, you need to continue to let the mixture sit for a few minutes before stirring again.

Press the mixture into your pan using a cup or spoon. The gelatin is sticky, so it's easier to work with if you use something other than your hands.

Let the pan sit for at least three hours in the refrigerator or at room temperature. Carefully remove the blocks from the pan and let it air dry overnight. Store in a dry place, moisture will cause the blocks to break apart.

Hey there! This site is no longer being updated. I'm leaving some of the content up just because. If you'd like to follow what I'm currently up to, please head over to my new site. Thanks! – Meg.

So, I still haven’t posted my pages for Weeks 4 & 5… it’s been pretty crazy on our homestead! We’ve had lots of chicken drama, and now… the flu has hit Jeff. Throw in all our regular responsibilities, and we’ve been barely finding enough time to tend to anything!

The hardest part has been the chicken drama, I can’t get any work done because I’m outside with the girls. Even with a full schedule of work to do, I’ve managed to read the entire Hunger Games trilogy and then some during my forced time outside. What chicken drama could cause that? Well, several things.

The usual drama from the girls is when Selma is taking too long to lay her egg (seriously, the girl LOVES to take her time… 3 hours!!!) and the other two want to lay their eggs. Nevermind that there is another nesting box, they have to fight over the favorite one and get so upset that they’re loud enough to tell the entire neighborhood! Fortunately they fight with chicken “words” and not pain… well, when it comes to the nesting box.

Food and water, well, that’s another fight in itself. I had to rearrange their food and water because of them spilling everything… and that caused some panic, even though they weren’t running out of food. Selma decided to remind Baby she’s at the bottom of the pecking order, and Selma drew blood… which caused both Selma and Patty to keep pecking feathers from Baby’s back. Apparently chickens are like sharks and go crazy at the smell of blood? Well, after some quick googling and a trip to Tractor Supply Co, Baby is now on the mend! From the time I left for TSC and returned home to play “Chicken Doctor,” she went from having a 1 inch bloody bald spot, to almost 3 inches. Thanks to a lot of pine tar, the pecking stopped! It really is a miracle “cure” to stop the bullies and heal the wound!

We had a THIRD incident of chicken drama after that was taken care of. Patty started molting!!! Everything I’ve ever been told or read said that chickens molt in fall, getting ready for winter. Well, that’s not 100% true… they can molt anytime during winter and some even molt in spring. Especially hens that reached maturity in late summer/early fall… like Patty! Selma isn’t molting, but it could just be a matter of time. Rita and I had a good laugh looking at chicken sweaters, just for when Patty’s new feathers aren’t in before the “February Thaw” is over 😉 I don’t think my great-aunt would like me covering Patty in her tea cozy!

So now I have two bald chickens and a chicken who takes all the time in the world to lay her eggs. It’s a good thing I love them, because this chicken drama is almost worse than high school drama! Riley is a great help, she keeps both the girls and me calm while we’re out there dealing with their drama. All three hens are being pampered with meal worms and hard-boiled eggs. Jeff actually bought two 18-egg packs to make sure they get all the protein they need during this time.

As you can see, I’m still snapping away at my P365 photos… even if they are just these still instagram shots. I hope to have some time this weekend to scrap my Weeks 4 & 5, if I’m lucky enough to not catch the flu from Jeff!

Hey there! This site is no longer being updated. I'm leaving some of the content up just because. If you'd like to follow what I'm currently up to, please head over to my new site. Thanks! – Meg.

I made it! A whole week! Grabbed pictures every day! Currently I’m on day 10 and have kept it up! Sunday I wasn’t too happy with the photos I tried to grab, so I might redo them. I’m optimistic that I’ll keep up with P365 and Project Life this year.

Here’s my whole spread for Week 1, using Template A (heavily modified) by Becky Higgins and This Day by Ocean Wide Designs (me!) Click the image to make it larger…

It definitely was an interesting week — with Baby laying her first egg, the chickens trying to one-up each other in laying, my friend’s baby shower…

Even though it’s just the first week — I’ve already realized I need to scrap both pages side by side to keep it flowing well. I changed things up on the second page, so it doesn’t really match the first. Hopefully I’ll get the hang of this soon! I’m thinking about hooking up my scrapping & designing computer to my giant monitor I use for appraisal processing, it might help… A LOT!

How are your projects for the new year going? What are you doing to record memories? Make sure to stop by the Zig Zag Scrap Fun-Place to share!!!

Hey there! This site is no longer being updated. I'm leaving some of the content up just because. If you'd like to follow what I'm currently up to, please head over to my new site. Thanks! – Meg.

Fall flew by us, way too fast. We both had some work changes, minor for him… major for me, both caused major scheduling insanity. I think we had two weeks where we barely had much time for each other. Now, thanks to a minor miracle of a software special and amazing Black Friday sales, I have a new home office and no more scheduling problems! Here’s a few things we’ve been up to, instagram photos included 😀

When I haven’t been working, I have kept up with trying new recipes. Including the ever so famous No-Knead Bread recipe. We’re only slightly addicted…. hehe! I’ve already put a good dent in the pound of yeast I bought in October.

Since it’s cooled down, Riley has become a pretty big cuddle bug. When she’s given a choice between an activity (like greeting Jeff when he gets home) and cuddling up for warmth… she picks the warmth. You would think she only had one layer of fur, not four!!!

Baby has also had some changes with the cool weather, her comb and wattles are finally coming in!!! They’re redder in person, but not nearly as red as her sisters’. I’m interested to see if she starts laying now or waits until the spring. It’s kind of hard to tell, especially since they slow down laying this time of year. So far I don’t think they’ve slowed down OR that she’s started laying. Sigh. Egg math is hard!

I’ll be back soon with some recipes! We’ve continued to cook with the slow cooker, but we’ve also gone back to using the oven and stove now that it’s cool weather again!

Hey there! This site is no longer being updated. I'm leaving some of the content up just because. If you'd like to follow what I'm currently up to, please head over to my new site. Thanks! – Meg.

Yesterday Jeff and I did a lot of work sprucing up the hen-house and chicken run. We’ve tried to do as much DIY as possible, including making our own feeder out of a 5-gallon bucket from a tutorial we found on BackYardChickens.com. Since our feeder didn’t work as well, we went to Tractor Supply Co. and got a new 12-lb feeder and a replacement for our broken bottle waterer.

We also hit up the hardware store for some hooks to hang the new feeder and our 1-gal waterer from the bottom of the coop. At first I was afraid that there wouldn’t be enough space to hang the two side-by-side, but there was! You can see the feeder in the picture above, and the waterer is hidden behind the ramp in the top right. The girls prefer the bottle waterer, because they’re simply fascinated by the technology, but we want them to have PLENTY of water available. Also, hanging the food and water keeps them clean… especially since the ladies LOVE to scratch up dirt everywhere.

After we made all the changes and cleaned out the coop, Jeff helped me set up my two Topsy-Turvy Tomato Planters. They were only $5/each on Amazon, so I had to experiment! I want to make salsa this year, so that means we need to have plenty of tomatoes!

So far our cherry tomatoes are the only ones that have ripened enough in the garden. I snagged a few straight off the vine for an afternoon snack!

For the girls’ afternoon snack, I used my new Egg-Perfect Egg Timer to make some hard-boiled eggs. Yes, chickens are somewhat cannibalistic… and they LOVE eggs. It’s a very nutritious snack for them, and definitely one of their favorites! Honestly, they’ll eat pretty much anything we put in front of them.

Hehe… CHICKEN BUTT!!! I love Marge’s tooshie! We originally wanted to get a wheaten maran and two australorps, but the wheaten marans are hard to come by. We love the marans because their tooshies look like they have petticoats! Fortunately, Marge’s buff orpington tooshie is a close second in petticoat-cuteness!

It’s going to be awhile before they start laying, but we’re still having fun with them. I love sitting in the garden in the evening and watching the girls scratch around. Riley listens for me to put on my flip-flops and start walking towards the back door. She always joins me for some quality girl time, I think she thinks the chickens are her’s!

Hopefully the changes we made yesterday will be for the better for us and the ladies.

Note: All of the photos in this post were taken with the iPhone app, Instagram.

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Meet Meg

Hey all! Welcome to Our Misadventures, which is a mix of my personal and business blog. I'm Meg, I'm a full-time social media strategist with a passion for lifting up small businesses and entrepreneurs.

I'm an adventure and travel addict, married to my best friend (cliché but true,) I love good tea all throughout the day – and sometimes relax with a good book. I'm a huge advocate of primal eating & living, and a slave to two small puppy dogs and two round guinea pigs.